You might recognise Tim Key and Tom Basden (or rather, their voices) from Mark Watson Makes the World Substantially Better on Radio 4 last year. Together with Lloyd Woolf and Stefan Golaszewsk, they are the Cowards.

Even this brand new show—which preserves the format of the original unchanged—now seems as innocent as an Ernie Wise play—in comparison, I suppose, to the rest of contemporary TV comedy—which needs to be ‘edgier’. In this rather melancholy documentary about Shooting Stars it’s clear that the BBC executives who commissioned the show back then really did hope they were investing in the new Eric and Ernie. It didn’t really work out – they’re still a minority taste (and half the population will never sit down to watch the same show ever again). I wonder if it still could.

Brooker’s respectful—even humble—with the writers and, in turn, they’re frank and disarmingly modest about the process: about the endless cups of tea and the fear and the drudgery of the first draft but also about the elation of seeing the finished product and the compulsion to write.

It’s really inspiring TV and, for anyone who’s ever attempted to write anything (and that’s, like, everyone now, right?), it’s really encouraging and of genuine practical use. I know for certain that professors of creative writing everywhere will be pirating this wholesale so they can put the video on and nip out for a smoke without feeling guilty. Absolutely superb TV.

“An exquisitely middle-class, middle-aged domestic situation comedy set in north London – maybe Crouch End or Tufnell Park – and starring one of those bloody stand-up comics who now festoons every network, it really should be hated before it is even seen…but Outnumbered is very funny indeed: despite its current bout of self-flagellation, the BBC still knows how to make people laugh”

pretty much nails it.  Just look at the screen grab above for confirmation of the former.

The set up for this episode which is about parents struggling with the outcomes of banning their kids from using the TV and computers on a Sunday. “Spongebob is educational because it tells you how to make crabby patties and what goes on under the seas” pleads the youngest daughter when its taken away wasn’t far off my ludicrous attempts to impose a weekday Wii ban. I mean what’s the bloody point ?

The kids especially Daniel Roche who plays 8 year old Ben are astonishing, I can’t quite bring myself to take my eyes of Clare Skinner (Life is Sweet scarred me for life), and incredibly you might even warm to the sympathetic portrait of a confused 40something parent by Hugh “Now Show” Dennis.

Best sitcom of the year, alongside the underrated The Cup and Gavin and Stacey of course.

* This is  one of those “stacked” series on iPlayer so if you’ve missed em you can go back and watch episodes 1 and 2 as they’re available longer than just yer 7 days.

Simon Amstell, the cheeky-faced tousle-haired youth who chairs Never Mind the Buzzcocks recently appeared on Russell Brand’s last radio programme where he seemed to enjoy baiting the Daily Mail. Who would have guessed he’d have felt nervous after that?  Despite playing at being extra careful here, he is as dry and funny as ever.

A welcome return to the screen for Alexi Sayle too.

Episode one is still up, so you can start there, but you’ll have to be very quick.

You might recognise Antonia Campbell-Hughes (who plays the spookily frosty ‘Miranda’, and was recently in the Jack Dee comedy ‘Lead Ballooon‘. Did you know she’s also a fashion designer?), Alex MacQueen (who plays ‘Alex’ the PR git. You’ll recognise him from The Thick Of It), Ophelia Lovibond (who plays ‘Roxy’. Ms Lovibond was recently in the film ‘Popcorn‘ apparently) and Greg McHugh (the comedian and actor who plays the intense and brilliantly named ‘Guantanamo Ray’ character).

It’s an incredibly good bit of Harry Potter YouTube generation new media yoof satire. It’s not Nathan Barley, but you’ll like it. Watch it now, honestly, while it’s still there.